Upgrading to Windows 7

[placebo]

I am seriously thinking of upgrading to windows 7 ,probably next week.My main reason for this is I am using a very old hard drive approximately 10 years old plus a very old version of windows XP with more updates than I can remember.I will purchase a new hard drive plus Windows 7 premium edition.The computer will be given to my IT department to do the upgrade however I have certain fears of their ability and knowledge and therefore request a bit of help regarding the following questions.
1)I use outlook express as my e mail,can all my e mails be backed up and restored on Windows 7?
2)I am currently using Office 2002 disc long since lost plus license.If I use open office will it still open all my word and excel documents?
3)I have my installation discs for my Netgear router model DG834GT, my Cannon scanner model Lide 10and my printer HP Desk jet 6543,will they work on Windows 7?I also have a Graphics card disk which is a 9 month old Nvidia.
I have a 9 month old mother board plus 2GB of memory.I really would appreciate input regarding the clean install of Windows 7.

Thanks Gurus in advance.

 

[LancelotSA]

Perhaps read this first : http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/10/20/how-to-get-your-old-system-ready-for-a-windows-7-upgrade/

And try this : http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...FamilyID=1b544e90-7659-4bd9-9e51-2497c146af15

 

[placebo]

Perhaps read this first : http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/10/20/how-to-get-your-old-system-ready-for-a-windows-7-upgrade/

And try this : http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...FamilyID=1b544e90-7659-4bd9-9e51-2497c146af15

Thanks Lancelot but I am purchasing a totally new harddrive as well as upgradind the software.As stated my hard drive is now 10 years old and very slow.

 

[LancelotSA]

Thanks Lancelot but I am purchasing a totally new harddrive as well as upgradind the software.As stated my hard drive is now 10 years old and very slow.

That's fine it'll point that out as an issue if there is not enough space but it will also check if your graphics are compatible with aero, you have enough RAM and whether your applications are compatible.

I ran it earlier and it showed a few issues and also suggested a clean install rather than an upgrade. It showed my graphics on my laptop to be incompatible with aero and a number of my applications that would not work.

 

[placebo]

I have run the compatibility wizard and the graphics card is a problem.However with windows 7 ultimate there are certain XP features furthermore I am sure I can download a newer driver for the card.I am also aware that Outlook Express is not supported will look for an alternative solution.I am more interested in the open source office and the compatibility of word and excel documents already on computer which I will back up.

 

[LancelotSA]

My assumption with old office documents is that the operating system will not make a difference.

If OpenOffice is compatible with Windows 7 then your documents will open. There is/was the issue with Office 2007 documents (docx etc) not opening in older versions of Office but there is a compatibility pack that resolves this. It is less a matter of whether the backed up files are compatible and more about whether the software is.

Here is an article about the compatibility of OpenOffice 3.1 with Windows 7 that may be helpful : http://blog.brothersoft.com/2009/06/24/windows-7-software-compatibility-testing-openofficeorg-31/

In summary :

Bugs Report
As you can imagine, I'm going to leave this section completely empty, not only because I did not find any bug myself, but also searching for bugs, malfunctions, troubles or incompatibilities for OpenOffice.org running under Windows 7 in the Web in general or in specialized forums produced not a single report or complaint.

Final Words
As far as I can see, a lot of users are recommending it as the perfect office suite for this operating system

 

[Synaesthesia]

To answer your questions, Windows Live Mail is basically the new Outlook Express - so just get that. What CPU do you have? If you have one with VT you can run older apps like Office 2002 in Windows XP mode in Windows 7. It's awesome.

 

[placebo]

I have today spoken to a Microsoft Gold supplier who will see if they can supply me withe an original unused uptodate copy of XP which I will pay for quite happily.The computer programmes I run plus graphics card are obviously not compatible with Windows 7.As they owe me a favour I am hoping that they can supply me with the required software very soon.I am holding thumbs in this regard.I will check how much Office is available for once I get an answer even if it is a downgraded version.I am not going to climb on this hype of windows 7 due to the fact I need an upgrade of hardware and a clean install.